Box toe blank conditioning machine



' SeptLlS, 1959 G. H. BUSHWAY- BOX TOE BLANK CONDITIONING MACHINE Filed June 9, 1958 a ul.

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- INVENTOR. GEORGE H. BUSHWAY KENWAY, JENNEY. W-HTER & HHDDUH ATTORNEYS United States ,3It

Y BOX TOE BLANK CONDITIONING MACHINE George H. Bushway, Rye .Beach, N.'H., assignor to Shu- Condifioner 'Inc., Hampton, N.H., a corporation of New Hampshire 3 Application June 9, 1958, Serial No. 740,633 5 Claims. (Cl. 118-426) This invention relates to a machine for conditioning box toe blanks and-comprises -in-one aspect-an improvement upon the conditioning machine disclosed in my prior patent No. 2,818,832 datedlanuary 7, 1 958.

The function of a box toe is primarily to provide in the finished shoe a relatively rigid molded member conforming to the contour of the toe portion of the last. The box toes are supplied to the shoe manufacturer as flat blanks impregnated with a stiffening .compound which must be softened prior to the incorporation of the blank into the structure of the shoe so that the blank may be molded. Some box toe blanks are impregnated with thermoplastic stiffening compounds and are softened in heaters; other box toe blanks are impregnated with soluble stiifening compounds and require the application of a volatile solvent to render them temporarily pliable as they undergo the lasting operation. In the above-mentioned patent I disclose a machine for the application of a liquid solvent. The machine comprises essentially a housing serving as a container for the solvent and having within it a rotating disk equipped at its periphery with radially extending pins adapted to impale the blanks and move them through an arcuate path, there being an appropriate arcuate surface cooperating with the wheel to form a channel through which the blanks are successively passed.

I have found that in practice the operation of such a machine frequently is less than satisfactory by reason of the fact that the edge of the advancing blank sweeps before it the solvent from the underlying surface at the bottom of the channel, the result being that insufiicient solvent permeates the blank.

An important object of the invention is to improve the efliciency of box toe solvent conditioning machines.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the advancing box toe blanks a substantially constant and adequate supply of solvent.

The most important feature of the invention resides in the combination of a rotating disk equipped with radial pins, an arcuate wall cooperating with the disk to define a channel, and a transverse trough formed in the arcuate Wall and communicating at both its ends with the body of liquid solvent contained within the housing.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a ma chine comprising the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

The machine comprises a metal housing including a supporting base 10, a conditioning chamber 12 and a solvent supply chamber 14, the chambers being separated by a partition 15 having a liquid passage 16 therethrough. The chambers are adapted to hold a liquid solvent automatically maintained at a predetermined level in the .;2 chambers byconnection with a suitable container placed in the chamber .14 asshown in;my:prior'-patent.

A shaft 23, :rotatably mountedin the end 'walls 4240f the ;housing and .disposed horizontallytherein, is driven in the indicated direction by a motor acting through reduction gearing as illustrated in the :patent. One -or more flat disks 28 are fixed-to the shaft 23 :between the end walls24, and each disk has a periphery 30 coaxial with the shaft. A plurality of sharp needle-like .pinsor spurs 32is'mounted in spaced relation on and abouteach periphery 30, the spurs illustrated in the drawing being phonograph needles 32 adjustably secured in .thedisks. A blank engaging surface 34, preferably integral with the housing as illustrated, is disposed adjacent to and extends substantially coaxially about the-peripheries 30 of the disks to provide an arcuateblanktconductingpassage -or channel therebetween and is spaced from the peripheries a distance adapted to maintain blanks impaled on the spurs-as theypass through-the channel.

- The housing includes a cover 38 pivoted' at 40 and adapted in closed position to enclose the conditioning chamber 12, and a gate 42 pivoted at 44 to the cover38 normally completes thechamber closure. The free end '43 of the gate comprises a plurality of :fingers ,projiectin'g inwardly and serving to strip the blanks from .the disks .28 as illustrated in Fig. 1. A blank feeding slot 46 is provided between the cover 38 and the wall 15.

When the machine is in operation, the cover is closed and the shaft 23 together with the disks 28 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow. Blanks 54 to be treated are fed downwardly through the slot 46 and are engaged by the spurs 32 and drawn along by the rotating disks. The vertical surface 50 of the wall 15 merges into the surface 34 and as each blank enters this merging area successive spurs pierce through the blank and impale it. The blank is thus maintained in alignment on the spurs by the surface 34 and is supported against laterally shifting movement during its passage through the treating bath. When a blank leaves the bath, it engages the stripper fingers 43 which strip the blank from th spurs 32 and cooperate with on-coming spurs to eject the blank outwardly through an opening 61.

As illustrated in Pig. 1, the lower faces of the blanks are in face to face contact with the surface 34 during the travel of the blanks through the bath and I have discovered that this contact prevents the desired saturating of the blanks by the solvent. My invention solves this di'ificulty by providing in the solvent-immersed portion of the blank contacting surface 34 a gap or trough disposed transversely across the path of movement of the blanks, thus permitting the solvent directly and continuously to contact the outer faces of the blanks as they cross the gap. In the drawing I have illustrated the gap as comprising an open channel or trough 60 through and beneath the surface 34 and extending transversely across it. The trough is preferably of the shape illustrated in Fig. 1 whereby the outer face of each blank immediately comes into direct contact with the solvent as it enters the gap and remains in such contact during its travel across the gap. Upon leaving the gap the blank again engages the surface 34 which continues to guide and maintain the blank on the spurs 32 until the blank is ejected by the fingers 43.

As Will be seen in Fig. l, the Wall of the trough first encountered by an advancing blank is substantially perpendicular to the surface 34. The wall of the far side, however, is inclined or beveled so that the leading edge of a blank which might drop into the trough will be guided smoothly back into the channel beween the disks and the support 34.

Having now disclosed my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United said walls and having a periphery disposed concentrically of the shaft, means in the housing providing a curved blank engaging surface disposed closely adjacent to and extending arcuately about the portion of said periphery which is below said shaft and providing a passage extending about the shaft between said curved surface and periphery of said member through the bottomof the liquid containing chamber, means on and extending outwardly from said periphery for engaging box toe blanks supported on said surface and carrying them through said liquid containing portion of the chamber upon rotation of said member therethrough, and means providing in and beneath said surface an upwardly open channel extending transversely across the first named passage below the shaft, said open channel forming a gap in said surface across the path of movement of the blanks through which the liquid in the chamber can pass into continuous contact with the outer face of each blank as the blank is carried across the gap.

2. The machine defined in claim 1 in which said surface is an integral part of the bottom wall of the liquid holding chamber.

3. The machine defined in claim 2 in which said gap comprises an open trough in the bottom wall of the chamber extending longitudinally thereof beneath and outwardly beyond both sides of said member.

4. A machine for conditioning box toe blanks and the like comprising a housing having a concave bottom, a shaft extending horizontally above said bottom, a disk mounted on the shaft and having its periphery spaced from said concave bottom, a plurality of pins radially mounted at the periphery of said disk and spanning substantially all of the space between the disk and the concave bottom, and walls forming a trough in said bottom extending transversely of said disk and beneath and beyond it.

5. The machine defined in claim 4 wherein the further wall of said trough is beveled at an obtuse angle from the bottom of the trough to the surface of said concave bottom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 9, 

